Mindfulness is something that makes many people uncomfortable or skeptical. It is very hard to be in tune with your body and to decompress in such a way with the busyness of the world around us. There are many different ways to practice mindfulness, I am just getting started on exploring all the different ways it can be accomplished. One practice that I use often and find works very well for me is belly breathing. Belly breathing helps me focus on my breath and due to the way it works it also calms me down drastically. Anytime I feel overwhelmed or like slowing down I focus on my breath and the expansion of my belly to help clear my mind and calm my nervous system. Another practise I find useful is becoming aware of my body parts. I start by becoming conscious of the bottoms of my feet and move up from there. This practice has made me become very aware of my body and its functions. This helps with calming the mind and also finding awe in the body. These two meditations are the ones I find myself most interested in although there are many more options. A lot of the time mindfulness can be hard to make time for. It is not something that is practiced often in western culture

So it is something most have to explore on their own. I used calm when I first began to help guide me through it. I am a person that stresses very easily so using mindfulness helps me a great deal in being able to calm down and think things through in a better manner. In today’s world we are faced with what seems like a plethora of never ending problems that have no end. Many of the problems we have no idea the true extent and it seems every day new information comes out. It is very hard to see so many problems and oftentimes it can get overwhelming. It is often hard to become conscious of these problems that plague today’s society and many turn a blind eye because it is so hard to deal with. We all have so many problems in our personal lives that it makes it even harder to take a step back and look at the deep rooted problems that affect thousands of lives. Mindfulness can play a great tool in that. It helps calm you down and to also be able to take a look at these large scale problems and think about the different possibilities we have to help make a difference. A big step that many do not even realize is just acknowledging the wicked problem that takes place instead of ignoring it or feeding into it. These problems take a large toll on many people and it can be a hard concept to grasp for most. I often find myself overwhelmed with what seems like impending doom but I have to remind myself of the little things and to have hope that it will get better. One of the harder concepts to grasp pertaining to wicked problems is the role I have in it. The smallest things that you may not think about can feed into a problem of great depth. Let’s say I bought a cheap shirt from an online store and the only reason I picked that particular store was for the extremely low prices. Well what I may not know is that the reason behind that price is a very disturbing issue, sweatshops. The reason for the extremely cheap price is a corrupt company that barely pays its workers. By actively choosing this site I am playing into the wicked problem of sweatshops and with the more people that play into it the better that company does and well paying fair companies cannot compete with that. Some of the best ways to help with these types of wicked problems that we play into would be to first do research before making purchases, especially online. Another one is to raise awareness about these companies and help spread the word about the issue. There are issues all over that may seem inevitable and like there is no hope but by making these conscious thoughts there is. Whether it be volunteering and spreading awareness these small contributions do make a difference. Mindfulness can also come into play when it come to finding solutions for these large scale problems. Remember to always calm down, take a step back, and reflect on the details of the situation. Becoming aware of these global problems that affect so many is very scary at first so finding a healthy way to deal and cope with the stress of these phenomenons is very important. As I dive deeper into these crazy wicked problems I find myself wanting to do more in order to make a difference but it seems so hard a lot of the time. Just finding a place to get started is a debate on its own. It makes it very hard when there seems to be so many different solutions to these problems but yet none seems to be quite right. As I continue to explore my curiosity grows to find what I can do to help these problems. Mindfulness helps me slow down and realise I can not just go out and conquer the world. A lot of the time you have to start with just the baby steps. And those would be educating ourselves with what is going on outside our personal bubbles and being willing to ask questions. This class has expanded my mind on my comfortability with these wicked problems and what I am willing to do to help. Mindfulness helps keep the weight of the world off my shoulders and grounds me back to earth.This class has helped reintroduce me to mindfulness and has helped a lot with my stress by showing me multiple ways to avoid getting overstimulated and finding a way to just calm down and focus on the now.